Art & Inspiration Work benches, lets see'm

Man, there's some sweet stuff here! I wish my bench was half as nice (or half as clean) as some of these!



Here's what mine sometimes looks like:






Here's what it usually looks like:

 

I like workbenches -- and I probably have too many of them for a 20x22 garage.

Here's a tour. They're all cleaned up for the pictures.

1) Smallest is this little 3/16" thick welding table. Here it is right after I finished making it:



And here it is with a band saw on top of it and my table saw tucked underneath it. This is an old picture; I've restored and repainted the old band saw since it was taken.



2) Behind it is my main bench, which in the above picture was a solid-core door on a toolbox. But more recently (last week) I decided I needed a place to sit, so I split an Equipto drawer unit in two sections and put a piece of Oak butcher block on top of it. That's an air reel (turned sideways) filling in for the missing drawer on the right side, by the power strip. I cut a hole in the wall so the little drawers on top of the bench could fit between the wall studs.



3) This big boy is an inch-thick steel-topped table for fabrication (and general persuasion) work. That's a very sturdy Strong Hold cabinet underneath.



4) I've got an island type bench against the center pillar of the garage. It's made out of a pair of Vidmar cabinets, topped with Birch butcher block. There's more storage underneath it.



5) At the opening to the garage, I've got a bench I made out of 2" rectangle tubing. The top is a second-hand piece of Maple butcher block.



6) Around the little sink, there's a 1/8"-thick steel surface, also with cabinets underneath. I chopped up a single Strong Hold unit to make this.





7) On the parking side, I've got a table I use to hold my router -- and sometimes for cutting with the miter saw. It's surface is made of two layers of 3/4" plywood.



8) Next to it is a 1/8" thick welding table. I store clamps behind it.



Both of them fold up and out of the way when they're not in use.

9) And speaking of out of the way, last year I put in a hydraulic lift table, which comes up to the height of the other work surfaces and works as a bench as well. (It's also good for loading stuff into the back of my Jeep.)



Most of the time, it's used to hold up my old track car:



10) Finally, there's a spare 1/8"-thick (with 2"x2"x1/4" thick frame) steel table suspended up along the ceiling. This is the one I used to build the sections of my wrought-iron fence. I have no doubt that one day it will fall on my car.

 

WOW,, impressive garage !! NICE !!!

 

jack that is very impressive , is your spare table winch controled , and do you know were your tape mesure is in there as everything else is tip top nice just could not see it , man that is nice , thanks for sharing

 

Thanks, guys. It's a lot of garage stuffed into a very small space. It's not the perfect shop for everybody out there, but it's what I've put together for myself over the past three years.

Here's a full shot:



Yes, 32-3 WINDOW, the table is raised and lowered with a hoist and cable setup. Since the garage is 82 years old and is having another termite fumigation this coming month, suspending a 100-lb table above my car is probably the stupidist thing I do in the garage. But it hasn't fallen yet. (Famous last words.)

I keep a tape measure above three of the work benches and I have a few others stashed in drawers. I still usually can't find one when I need it. The shop is clean in the pictures, but it gets very messy in the middle of a project.

 

That's one nice garage, man. Great, unique, storage solutions, while retaining high functionality.
I really like the idea of a fold up weld table with all of the weld clamps behind it, recessed into the wall. That might be my summer project.

 

to check out a more in depth version of jack's garage click on the link at the bottom of his post, it will take you to our sister site the garage journal.

later jim

 

It's under there somewhere! Built it out of pine about 25 years ago, and it's seen some awful hard use.

 

I made this because I always end up on the floor.

Maybe I'm wierd but it sems like everytime I crawl under my truck or sit down I need a wrench from the other side of the garage.

Zebrawood with skateboard wheels

302 ford pushrods for holding stuff.

 

MAAAAAAAN...I use the same thing for my work bench. It's waist height, sturdy enough to hold a '54 door and wide enough to hold the fender. That way I don't have to hurt my back leaning over for long periods of time. If I get tired...i just put what ever I'm working on on top of the smaller trash can and sit down on my 5 gal. paint bucket.

 

Jack Olsen on the HAMB? Now all we need to do is convince you to stop adding more to your garage and build a hot rod haha

 

Finally, here is my work bench. Under all that crap. Completley handmade out of steel by my close friend and local hot rodder Mike Mckinney. on the left side underside it has a tool box welded in under the top. The top is 1/4 inch thick. Comes in handy when trying to beat the snot out of a piece of metal. It has a piece of angle iron welded on the edge of the front to help catch small things that tend to roll. As well as catch the dust and metal shavings. On the right side is a door to help cover and hide some of the storage. I have a 4.5 inch jaw vice mounted on the right side. And it measures 6ft long x 3ft 3 inches tall x 2ft 3 inches deep. I also have welded a male airline fitting closed and welded it at waist height to the right side of the bench so I can attach my airhose there when im not using it so I dont have to bend over to get the air hose. Just simply detach it, plug your tool in and go. I painted it black laquer so it looks good and can easily be touched up from time to time. Soon, I plan to strip about a 2.5ft section from the left benchtop area down to bare metal and weld a small tab (for the ground clip) towards the back of the benchtop to use as a welding station. the bench has casters under but they do not lock. I need to find a convertible or temporary way of stablizing the bench as I like to keep this movable but stable at times. I came up with an idea the other night. I will post a pic of it shortly. But I am open to suggestions and ideas. Here are the photos of my bench. I will clean it off someday soon and take better pics.

Thanks,
"Skrach"
My Vintage Blog:
www.VividlyVintage.com
My 55 Chrysler Worklog:
www.Pop's55.com

 

Okay, besides everything else in your shop, those green lights and the way you have them mounted is bad-ass.
I need some spot lighting over my 3x5 welding table, and you just showed me exactly what I'm gonna do.

How tall are the ceilings in that shop?
-Brad

 

Anyone have any slick innovative ways of making my bench stable? my idea was to create a system similar to an air jack system on an f1 car. But use a threaded shaft that I could ratchet down to push 2 legs against the ground which would then left the bench up off of the caster wheels and act as table legs. There would be 2 "ratcheting leg jacks" one on either side of the bench.

Anyone have any simpler or better ideas? I need the system to be able to drop down and raise up as the bench is mobile. And it is very heavy so I cant get to the wheels to lock them. I am having brain cramps. Please help

Thanks,
"Skrach"
My Vintage Blog:
www.VividlyVintage.com
My 55 Chrysler Worklog:
www.Pop's55.com

 

Here are better pics as well ad pics of my toolbox combo and custom side box which was a very small box, maybe a display or something. I welded a flange and hung it off of the lip of the box next to it. It is not touching the fridge under it. The jacket is my grand fathers fron the 50's. I also have a pic of my welding cart, made from a harbor freight tool cart.
The darker part on the left top, is where i plan to bring it down to bare metal for a welding area. this is the bench that i need to stabilize with something innovative.

Thanks,
"Skrach"
My Vintage Blog:
www.VividlyVintage.com
My 55 Chrysler Worklog:
www.Pop's55.com

 

more

 

Last ones

 

Brad,
I've got 14' ceilings. I was given five of the lights and then bought three more from a architectural recycling center (along with the cabinets). They came with the 2 foot extensions. I converted them from the large bulb to a standard bulb size.
The unistrut idea came to me while I was in a Chipotle Restaurant wolfing down a burrito and looking at their lighting.. I ended up using some more for hanging the furnace, and supporting my 220V outlets. It's handy stuff and cheap.

 

Get four good tallish casters and put them at the four corners. Make two fixed, two swivel.
Then get something like these "floor brakes" from McMaster Carr.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#floor-brakes/=fytqxp
Mount one at each end of the bench so you can hit it with your feet. (outboard of the bench's sides... not under the bench, with the casters) They'll keep the bench from moving.

I've also seen spring-loaded ones on warehouse portable stairs.

-Brad

 

Very cool. I've got 12-ft ceilings. I'll be doing something like that.

-Brad

 

Thanks for that info. I like that idea.

 

My humble work area....

 

Very nice. I have wanted to get a soda machine for a while now. I like that yours is not the normal brands, ie;coke, pepsi. Id like to find an RC cola one someday. Or dress one up to look like its original.

Thanks,
"Skrach"
My Vintage Blog:
www.VividlyVintage.com
My 55 Chrysler Worklog:
www.Pop's55.com

 

Ask and you shall recieve lol

Just found this..

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/atq/2811349921.html

But he wants too much. IMO

There is a 7up one like yours for 200.

Thanks,
"Skrach"
My Vintage Blog:
www.VividlyVintage.com
My 55 Chrysler Worklog:
www.Pop's55.com

 

Your Sick

 

I concur lol